Historic immigration legislation passes Senate by wide margin

After weeks of emotional debate and years of failure, the Senate passed the bipartisan package for comprehensive immigration reform this afternoon, 68 to 32.

The legislation, opposed by both Texas senators, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, represents the most sweeping changes to U.S. immigration policy since 1986.

With Vice President Joe Biden presiding, 14 Republicans joined a solid bloc of Democrats in approving the blueprint created by the bipartisan Gang of Eight, led by the relentless efforts of Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Marco Rubio of Florida and Chuck Schumer of New York.

Though the results were widely expected, immigration reform supporters in the Senate gallery burst into applause when the results of the vote were announced by Biden at 3:25 p.m. CDT. Backers chanted, “yes, we can, yes, we can,” before the vice president ordered the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms to restore order in the gallery.

Attention now shifts to the House of Representatives, where many Republicans are suspicious of the Senate bill’s pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and some Democrats oppose the Senate plan’s massive military build-up on the U.S. Southwestern border. President Barack Obama has asked Congress to reach agreement on a final plan by the end of the summer.

The reform package, which Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid called “historic,” aims to secure the border and provide a path to citizenship to the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants residing in the U.S.

“This bill will help people who are tired of looking over their shoulders and fearing deportation to start down the pathway to citizenship,” Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said.

The atmosphere was unusually raucous as Reid requested that senators vote from their seats on the chamber floor. Dreamers — undocumented youth who immigrated to the U.S. as children — sat in the eaves of the Senate gallery watching the yeas come in, sealing their fate.

Cornyn, a San Antonio Republican, appeared on the Senate this afternoon to denounce the bill one final time, calling it “a budget buster” for proposing $30 million in additional spending to bolster border enforcement, operating with the assumption that “this is free money.”

Cornyn also condemned the militarization of the border through the bill, which places an additional 10,000 border control officials on the ground.

“I know the surge worked in Afghanistan, but I’m not so sure that we need a surge in South Texas,” Cornyn said.

Texas House members representing border communities appeared on the chamber floor yesterday to similarly decry the militarization of the border, instead calling for more efficient trade across the border.

During an impromptu press conference inside the Capitol this afternoon, Iowa’s Sen. Chuck Grassley, who opposed the bill, said Senate leaders had “been bragging about getting 70 votes,” predicting they would “come up short” in a “strategic defeat.”

Grassley said he was involved in discussions with House leaders indicating the chamber will be “much more tough” on interior enforcement and border security and take up reform in pieces of legislation.